Azurite alternative

If you're using Azurite today and running into its limitations, Topaz is a drop-in alternative that covers Azure Storage — and goes significantly further.

What is Azurite?

Azurite is Microsoft's official local emulator for Azure Storage. It covers Blob, Queue, and Table storage and is widely used in CI pipelines and local development. It is a solid tool for storage-only workloads, but it is scoped to a single service.

Storage feature comparison

For Azure Storage specifically, the two tools have different coverage and different design choices. The table below reflects the current state of each emulator:

Feature	Topaz	Azurite
Accounts	Multiple named accounts via ARM	One fixed emulated account
Connection strings	Real Azure format	UseDevelopmentStorage=true shortcut
Azure Storage Explorer	Via connection string	Built-in emulator shortcut
Blob: basic operations (put, get, delete, head, list)	✅	✅
Blob: metadata (container get/set, blob set)	✅ Container; set-only for blobs	✅
Blob: container ACLs	✅	✅
Blob: container leases	✅ (acquire, renew, change, release, break)	✅
Blob: blob leases	Coming soon	✅
Blob: block blobs (put-block, put-block-list)	Coming soon	✅
Blob: page blobs	Coming soon	✅
Blob: copy operations	Coming soon	✅
Blob: snapshots	Coming soon	✅
Blob: authentication	Not enforced	Optional (enforced with --oauth)
Table: create, delete, query	✅	✅
Table: entities (insert, upsert, merge, delete, query)	✅	✅
Table: SharedKeyLite + SharedKey auth	Always enforced	Optional
Queue Storage	Coming soon	✅

The trade-off is scope: Azurite is more complete for Storage alone; Topaz covers a narrower Storage feature set in exchange for emulating the wider Azure service landscape in the same process.

Multiple storage accounts

Because Topaz has a full ARM control plane, you can create as many named storage accounts as your application needs — just as you would in real Azure:

az storage account create --name sa-orders --resource-group rg-local --location westeurope
az storage account create --name sa-events --resource-group rg-local --location westeurope

Each account gets its own connection string and is fully isolated. Azurite, by contrast, runs as a single fixed account — you cannot create additional accounts or address them independently.

Azure Storage Explorer

Topaz supports Azure Storage Explorer. Connect using a storage account connection string, which Topaz provides in the same format as a real Azure connection string — no UseDevelopmentStorage=true shortcut or special emulator mode is needed.

Retrieve the connection string for an account:

topaz storage account show-connection-string --name sa-orders

Then paste it into Storage Explorer under Connect to Azure Storage → Connection string. Azurite has a dedicated emulator shortcut in Storage Explorer; Topaz uses the standard connection string path because each account is a first-class named resource.

When to keep Azurite

Azurite is the right choice if:

• Your application uses only Azure Storage and a single account is sufficient
• You need Queue Storage, block blobs, page blobs, copy operations, blob snapshots, or blob-level leases — Topaz does not implement these yet
• You need a mature, Microsoft-maintained emulator with high compatibility guarantees
• Your toolchain is already built around Azurite and migration is not worth the effort

When to switch to Topaz

Topaz is the right choice if:

• Your application uses Key Vault, Service Bus, Event Hubs, or any service beyond Storage
• You need multiple named storage accounts in local or CI environments
• You want a single process to replace multiple emulators
• You use Terraform with the azurerm provider and need a local target for terraform apply
• You want the full Azure CLI (az keyvault, az servicebus, etc.) to work locally, not just az storage
• You want ARM-level resource management (resource groups, subscriptions) in CI without a real subscription

Migrating from Azurite

Topaz implements the same Azure Storage data-plane APIs that Azurite does. For Blob, Queue, and Table storage, you can point your existing Azure SDK connection strings at Topaz's storage port without code changes. See Getting started for installation and DNS setup.

For services beyond storage, Topaz adds emulation that has no Azurite equivalent. The integrations section covers how to wire up the Azure CLI and Terraform.